"The breathers painted on the elephant represent the Qi (Ch'i) or breath of life. I want to suggest that we humans can breathe life and energy back into the abused and endangered elephants. This Daoist approach also conveys my conviction that elephants are most happy in their natural environment doing what they do of themselves. Therefore, I don't want to paint the elephant as a "toy or tool" of human beings - such as elephant in circuses, zoo, workers, entertainers, vehicles - but as an animal that stands on its own; to leave it just being what it is."
